He awa whiria—braided rivers: Understanding the outcomes from Family Start for Māori

Abstract

In Aotearoa New Zealand a braided rivers-he awa whiria metaphor is facilitating conversations between Māori (indigenous peoples) and non-Māori researchers about the integration of knowledge systems. This article explores how an approach based on he awa whiria can work in practice in the examination of the efficacy for Māori whānau (families) of the government's intensive home-visiting programme, Family Start. A retrospective impact evaluation of Family Start for children born from 2004 to 2011 examined the outcomes for children in families receiving Family Start, compared to a matched control group who did not receive this service. The awa-or knowledge streams-called upon to inform the consideration of the findings for Māori from this evaluation related to: Family Start and its child development and parenting curriculum Āhuru Mōwai and Born to Learn, whānau ora, and measures of whānau wellbeing, other indigenous home-visiting programmes, the impact evaluation method, and the indigenous data sovereignty movement. Braiding (whiria) across these knowledge streams offered new perspectives on the impact evaluation's results for Māori. These results suggested that